True meaning of Friendship
by silvermoongirl10
Summary: Their kids school is threatened, the shooters keep five students hostage, not knowing four of them are children of cops. Castle, Beckect, Esposito and Ryan have to race against time to save their children before it's to late. ON HOLD!
1. Calm before the storm

"Kathy! Jake! Hurry up or you'll late for school!"

"Coming dad!"

Kathleen (Kathy) Ryan and her twin brother Jake grabbed some toast from their mother and headed out their front door following their father. When they reached the end of their driveway the 16 year old twins met up with their friend Daniel (Danny) Esposito. As their fathers exchanged words the 16 year olds started to walk off when Esposito called them to stop. "Castle and Beckett are meeting us here, their bringing Josie with them so you four can walk to school together". Even though Castle and Beckett were married, Beckett kept her last name (obviously). Josephine (Josie) Castle was the spitting image her mother, but with her father's eyes. She was also 16 years old. Danny Esposito looked more like his mother Lanie. Jake Ryan had inherited his father's blue eyes and his mother's blonde hair. Kathy Ryan had long brown hair to her elbows and her mother's eyes. The four friends were in a lot of classes and always sat with each other, with their other friend Ben Parker. Danny and Jake were close friends like their father's. Josie and Jake were dating and were subtlety trying to get Danny and Kathy together as it was obvious that they liked each other. Though Jake had doubts as to him it was his baby sister, albeit by two minutes. When Josie arrived the four friends ran to school after Beckett said they would be late for school.

"And whose fault is that?" mocked Josie, she ran before her mother could say anything.

It was lunch time when the friends saw some police officers had arrived. "Wonder if Cindy got caught shoplifting again" mused Jake. However it wasn't as small a thing as that. Their headmaster had been killed. Officer Evans passed on a message to the students saying they were to go home. He told Danny that their parents wanted them to go to the precinct.

When they arrived at the precinct they found a guy in holding being taken away. "Hey hey beautiful!" he cried as he made a grab for Kathy.

"Hey!" someone cried, Kathy knew it was her uncle Javier. Before Esposito could do anything Kathy swiped her leg hitting the guy's leg making him fall to the floor.

She stood over him and said "you're not my type" and walked over to her uncle.

"When did you learn to do that Kathy?" Asked Esposito,

"Since I was five, dad taught me"

"I sure did" Kathy turned around to face her dad, she grinned at him and he smiled in return. "I wanted to make sure she'd be able to defend herself"

"WAIT! You're telling me that _you_ Kevin Ryan taught your daughter self-defence. _You_ who has been held hostage and beaten up I dunno how many times!" cried Esposito.

Kathy looked at her dad eyebrows raised.

"Great _thanks _Esposito" glared Ryan. Esposito just smirked and walked over to Castle, and then the two of them were bent over laughing.

"Don't think I'll ever live this down" sighed Ryan.

"Wanna talk dad?" asked Kathy.

"Nah it'll blow over… I hope" came the reply. Kathy smiled, she and her dad were close.

Then Kathy had an idea. She walked nearer to Castle and Esposito, Jake who heard what happened joined Kathy he had guessed what his sister was about to do, he wanted to help.


	2. Own back

Ryan had also guessed what Kathy was about to d, he wiped out his cell phone and bought up the recording device.

"Jake do you remember when uncle Rick got drunk at dad's birthday party?"

"I sure do! Got the pictures to prove it!" Jake was about to say aloud what Castle had done when Castle ran over and covered Jake's mouth with his hand, but Kathy announced it anyway.

"Yeah I don't think mom was happy the he stretched one of her dresses!" Castle glared at Kathy and walked towards her and she backed away. Esposito was laughing at the memory, Castle had gotten so drunk Esposito had dared him to put on one of Jenny's dresses, when Castle came back wearing the dress they all took pictures. Then Jake quite loudly said "yeah that was funny, do you remember what uncle Javier did?" Jake looked at Esposito who shook his head, Jake just smirked and carried on "do you remember Kathy? It was when he tried to fix our bathroom light for us and he slipped and got his foot stuck in the toilet!" Ryan turned the phone to Kathy and Castle who were heading towards the interrogation rooms. Kathy ducked away from Castle and shoved him into the empty room and shut the door. Esposito shrugged at Jake until he saw Ryan holding the phone.

"Hey Kathy" said Ryan,

"Yeah dad"

"Wanna put this up on YouTube?"

"Maybe, but if I were you I'd keep it for further reference aka blackmail"

Ryan nodded and put the phone away and waved at Esposito, who scowled in return. Kathy laughed, she loved coming to her dad's work. She waved at Castle as he came out of the interrogation room, as she walked past Ryan and Jake she high fived them both. Ryan smiled at his kids, and then walked over to the murder board.

The kids weren't told why the school was closed for the remainder of the day, but when Josie walked past the murder board. One of the photos caught her eye. She beckoned the others over. The photo was of the crime scene, above their headmasters body was a message drawn in pen on the window. It said _**the students are next!**_ They all looked at each other wondering what it could mean. It was 6 o'clock and Ryan called Jake and Kathy so they could go home. They were all silent on the way home. They were all thinking the same thing. What did the message mean?


	3. The storm

Three days had passed, the killer hadn't been caught. The school was under constant surveillance. It was nearly the end of lunch; Kathy went to the reception desk to hand in a permission slip for the art trip. As she walked away to the main entrance she heard a strange noise, but dismissed it as fire crackers. Then she heard screaming. She ran to the main entrance and saw Detective Johnson on the floor in a pool of blood. She went to help him until a figure dressed in black holding a rifle stood in front of her; she turned and ran up a flight of stairs hearing bullets wiz past her. She sprinted down the corridor up another flight of stairs halfway up she stopped and took out her phone and called her dad.

Ryan was staring at the murder board. Then suddenly he got a pain in his stomach. Esposito looked at him and said "what's wrong bro?"

"I think something's wrong at the school, something has scared Kathy"

Esposito, Castle, Beckett all knew how close Ryan and Kathy were, and if Ryan said something was wrong. Then _there_ was something wrong.

"But we haven't heard anything from Johnson-"

RING RING Ryan answered his cell phone put it on his desk on loud speaker.

"Dad!"

"Kathy what's wrong?"

"There's a shooter at school!"

"Where's Detective Johnson Kathy?"

"They shot him dad! He was lying in a pool of blood at the main entrance-"

"Kathy calm down! Can you do that honey?"

Ryan was panicking himself, but he had to get Kathy to calm down so she could think straight. He then asked "where's Jake, Danny and Josie Kathy?"

"I don't know! I went to hand in a permission slip and we were going to meet up with Ben in Biology"

"Ok, where are you?"

"I'm on the flight of stairs between the English department and the Maths department" Esposito pointed to a spot on a map of the school, Esposito then asked "Kathy did you the shooter and if you did where?"

"At the main entrance, he fired at me so I ran up the stairs then down the English corridor, now I'm halfway up the second flight of stairs".

Esposito put a cross on the map indicating where Kathy saw the shooter and drew a line where she said she ran. Beckett then asked, "Is there only one shooter Kathy?"

"No, I heard screaming from the Languages building, there maybe more but I think there's only two". Then they heard a door slam and Kathy whimpered.

"Kathy what's happening?" Asked Ryan.

"Their coming up the stairs, there's a door at the both ends of the staircase… Dad I have nowhere to run! The Maths corridor leads to a dead end!" Whispered Kathy.

"Kathy don't worry I'll come get you" Ryan almost shouted, and then they heard a deep voice on the end of the phone. "Well hello little girl"

"Stay away from me!" Kathy shrieked. She then started screaming. Ryan could only listen in horror. The screaming stopped, but the phone didn't hang up.

"Kathy!" cried Ryan, Esposito put his hand on Ryan's shoulder, Esposito then used the app on his phone to track Kathy's phone. It hadn't moved from where Kathy said she was.

When the team reached the school, Kathy's phone again still hadn't moved or hung up. Ryan clinged to the fact Kathy was dragged away from the phone. However, there was still the possibility that his precious little girl. Was dead.


	4. Panic

"Get off me!" screamed Kathy, she tried reaching for her phone she knew she needed her phone on her for her dad to track her in case she was taken away from the school, but she only just missed it. She was dragged down the stairs and pulled into the auditorium were a hundred students and a handful of staff were being held by two gunmen, now three.

"Kathy!" she turned to the voice who called her name. It was Ben Parker; he was one of her best friends. She saw next to him was Josie, Danny and Jake. Kathy sighed; she hoped they had gotten away. The gunman threw her to the floor and she stumbled over to her friends and brother.

Ten minutes had passed when they heard,

"THIS IS THE NYPD! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

"How'd they get here so fast?" Asked a gunman.

The one who caught Kathy turned to her and said "I caught her on her cell phone" he took a step toward Kathy trying to scare her, but she only raised her head and stared back. The man turned away and added, "Hang on! She was talking to her dad, I heard scream dad. That's means she's a cop's kid!" The other gunmen turned to look at her; the leader grabbed her and walked toward the door ignoring her friend's protests. He poked his head out the door and yelled "I have a hostage!" and pulled Kathy from behind the door with a gun to her head. Kathy looked around at the people in front of her all pointing guns at the gunman, Kathy then saw a gun being lowered, and she saw that the person holding it was her dad.

#######

Kevin saw the gunman poke his head round the door and his heart sank when he heard he had a hostage, but what made his blood boil was that the hostage was Kathy. He was pleased that she was alive, but horrified that she had a gun pointed at her head. Kathy looked at him, she looked calm and she drifted her eyes to the floor and Kevin followed her eye line and saw held three fingers pointing to the ground. He knew she saying there were three gunmen Kevin looked at Esposito who had also saw Kathy's hand. They looked back at the shooter when he yelled "I have a hundred students and some staff in there I will let them go, but I will keep hold of this lovely girl as my insurance" Ryan sucked in a breath. _Oh no, please no not Kathy!_ Esposito put a hand on Ryan's shoulder; this didn't go unnoticed by the gunman.

"So you're father of this girl who is also a cop"

Ryan only glared back; this only made the gunman laugh. "Well we'll release most of the hostages, we'll keep this girl and her friends" with that the gunman re-entered the school. Ryan, Esposito, Beckett and Castle all exchanged worried looks. From what the gunman said meant that Kathy, Danny, Josie and Jake and most likely Ben were going to be the hostages. When the team hadn't seen Danny, Josie and Jake they assumed they were still in the school. Sadly they were right.

After the hostages had been released apart from Kathy and the others, all the team could do was wait. It had been four hours since Kathy had called Ryan, Ryan had called Jenny to tell her that Kathy and Jake were hostages, she had remained calm on the phone but Ryan only knew she was trying to keep it together for Ryan's sake as she knew he was taking the situation hard. The team were discussing what they could do, when they heard a girl, that sounded just like Kathy scream "NO!" and then a single gunshot ran out echoing. Ryan stood still with shock, _please let Kathy be alive please I'll do anything to get her and the others out unharmed please just let her be alive!_


	5. Cold hard determination

The gunmen were talking about what they were going to do. For some reason unknown to the group the gunmen were going to split up. The leader was going to take Kathy and Danny, the second was going to take Josie and Jake, while the third was going to take Ben. Thankfully the gunmen hadn't caught on that Kathy wasn't the only child of a cop, when the third gunman went to grab Ben, Ben started to struggle, Kathy and the others were being dragged out of the auditorium. The third gunman began to get annoyed with Ben and drew his gun saying "I've had enough of this" as Kathy was pulled around the corner she saw Ben having his arms pulled behind him with his back facing the gunman who had a gun pointed at Ben's head. After Kathy couldn't see Ben anymore she heard a shot ring out and screamed "NO!"

"Shut up!" cried the leader as he took Danny and Kathy to the language building. While Jake and Josie were taken to the Drama and Music building.

#######

Kevin stood in silence with shock after the shot had been fired, but movement at the door caught his attention and he pulled his gun out like every other cop outside the school. But what they didn't expect was Ben running out of the building, very quickly everyone put down their guns and Ben ran over to Beckett and the others.

"Ben! How did you get out without getting killed?"

"Easy, the gunmen for some stupid reason decided to split up, the leader took Danny and Kathy to the language building when the other guy took Josie and Jake to the Music and Drama building. The guy who had me wanted to shoot me cuz I was struggling, he put my hands behind my back and had my back facing him. I kicked out and he ended up shooting himself in the leg, so you could go and get him". Four armed officers then entered the building then a minute later emerged with the gunman. Also because Ben had told them where the two other gunmen were a plan could be formed.

An hour later when the plan was about to be set into motion they heard running footsteps and gunshots, the team looked around to see Josie and Jake running towards them, a SWAT team took out the gunman firing at them. Castle and Beckett ran to Josie and embraced her tightly, and Kevin hugged Jake, but still not as relieved as Beckett and Castle because Kathy was still in danger.

"How did you get away?" Beckett asked Josie,

Josie looked at Jake and said "Jake managed to get behind the gunman and knocked him over and we ran out the fire escape"

Kevin patted his son on the shoulder and smiled.

Esposito then said "now all we need is for Kathy and Danny to escape"

"Wait, Ben's not dead?" asked Jake,

"No I'm not!" came a voice from behind the group, Jake and Josie rushed over to Ben and started talking.

"Ben's, Jake's and Josie's escape is going to make it harder to get Danny and Kathy now isn't it?" asked Castle, the others just nodded.

Then turned around when they heard the leader shout through a window "YOU MAY HAVE SAVED THE OTHER KIDS, BUT I AM NEVER GONNA GIVE UP! AND IF YOU TRY ANYTHING I'LL SHOOT THE BOY AND GIRL!"

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other and then back at Beckett and Castle "he may think he is gonna win…" started Esposito,

"But not only has he got to deal with Kathy and Danny but also us as well" added Ryan. Castle almost shivered at the cold looks in Ryan's and Esposito's eyes, he knew he would feel the same, heck he just had, but now it was going to be harder for his friends to get their children back. But he also knew Danny and Kathy were a lot like their father's, stubborn and determined and he also knew with them trying to find a way to escape and their father's trying to find a way in to get them out he knew it could only end one way. With his friend's winning and the gunman spending a _very_ long time in jail.


End file.
